Zambia’s new President Hakainde Hichilema vowed Friday to strengthen anti-corruption efforts and show “zero tolerance” for graft, in his first speech to parliament.
Hichilema, elected last month in a landslide, said the government would devise a mechanism to recover state assets allegedly stolen under the southern African country’s previous regime.
Speaking before lawmakers, Hichilema said there would be no sacred cows in the fight,” adding there would be increase the benefits of being honest and the cost of being corrupt.
Hichilema promised to strengthen investigative wings agencies and create special courts to hear corruption cases.
He also outlined an economic recovery plan to fix the impacts of unsustainable borrowing and mismanagement that caused copper-rich Zambia to default on its debt last year — the first country in Africa to do so in the coronavirus era.
Rising living costs, unemployment and everyday hardship boosted Hichilema’s popularity, particularly among the majority young voters.
He beat his long-term rival Edgar Lungu in August 12 polls by a landslide of almost one million votes — a victory hailed as a democratic milestone for opposition movements in Africa.
Vowing to boost key sectors like mining, agriculture and tourism, Hichilema said, they had inherited an economy that is in dire straits and requires bold and decisive action
He has vowed to secure a bailout deal with the International Monetary Fund — a drawn-out negotiation process started under Lungu — and to achieve economic growth of more than 10 percent within five years.
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